Thoughts on Life, Love, Politics, Hypocrisy and Coming Out in Mid-Life

Friday, January 13, 2017

Trump's War on the Media and Reality

One of the first things that would be dictators do is to discredit and undermine the free press since it represents the greatest threat to their quest for power. The ultimate goal is to eventually control the press and change reality in the minds of the public to fit the fake reality that the dictator wants to impose. Frighteningly, Donald Trump has already begun this process as demonstrated by his repeated lies, constant attacks on any portions of the media not pumping out his propaganda and lies. One can only hope that while there is still time, the media will ferret out enough truth and facts to destroy Trump before he destroys American democracy. Indeed, as Der Fuhrer increasingly shows himself as a threat to world order, perhaps allied nation intelligence services will find and release bombshell information that will force even traitorous and power mad Republicans to flee Trump. A piece in Vanity Fair looks at Trump's war on the media. Here are highlights:

So,
who won this week? So far,Donald Trump. During a press
conference, his first since winning the election, he sounded entirely unruffled
by BuzzFeed’s disclosure of unverified opposition
research alleging ties between himself and Russia. Trump said that he was
always hyper-aware of surveillance when he was traveling abroad and suggested
that he would never do something as stupid as hiring local prostitutes to relieve
themselves on the bed of a Moscow hotel suite—and he said it in a way that
managed to make the charge look silly, as indeed it probably is. He openly
insulted BuzzFeed as a “failing pile of garbage” and insulted CNN as a purveyor
of “fake news,” passing over its reporter Jim Acosta and telling him to be quiet when Acosta kept
talking anyway. Trump also used the news of the hour to take attention off of
what appeared to be inadequate measures to protect against
conflicts of interest between his business and his new day job.

Trump
is now as powerful as ever, and if you want to topple him, you’d better have
your army in order. This is a good lesson and a bad lesson. It’s good because,
if a truly scandalous story emerges, journalists have to do it properly. It’s
bad because it feeds into what seems to be a tacit assumption that the
criterion for journalism in the Trump administration will be its power to shake
the foundations of the presidency.

Journalists
also learned to withhold documents from the public unless the claims within
them have been thoroughly investigated. This, again, is both a good lesson and
bad lesson. It’s a good lesson, because nothing good can come of reputable
publications trafficking in rumor and gossip as if they’re In Touch.
But it’s a bad one, too, because journalists are also way too willing to hide
their work, as if readers must be shielded from the bright light of primary
sources. When BuzzFeed disclosed the document in full, ordinary readers got to
see an ill-kept secret that had been circulating all through the halls of
journalism and government. Regular Americans at this point deserved to see it,
too, and they’re probably better off for it, even if BuzzFeed isn’t. Better
lesson: when you make a call to disclose the raw evidence, try to give a
detailed annotation on what we know and don’t, and don’t just toss out a facile
line about doing it so that “Americans can make up their own minds about [the]
allegations.”

All
of this has been distracting from more important troubles, like Trump’s
conflicts of interest or his more dubious nominees. Mike Pompeo
is a genuinely disconcerting nominee for heading up the C.I.A., far too
inclined, it seems, to overestimate threats. Ben Carson is
almost certain to be bad news at H.U.D., not because of his convictions, but
because of his lack of knowledge.

We
learned, too, that holding Trump accountable will be very, very hard, and the
blame for that rests with far more than just Trump. Mainstream journalists have
been asking why they’ve been losing credibility with the public, often blaming
right-wing media and fake news. Rarely considered is the possibility that we’ve
lost the trust of readers because we’re not trustworthy. . . . Instead, the
issue is just that the media increasingly sees only what it wants to see. . . .
Much of the work of mainstream watchdogging will depend on buy-in from the
right if it’s going to matter. That’s just the way of it.

Finally,
we learned this week that the intelligence community may well be going to war
with our incoming president. . . . . For the moment, our press outlets and our
intelligence agencies seem to be mounting nothing organized, just running stray
sorties. But if something more coordinated emerges, with the intelligence world
joining forces with reporters to mount a serious effort to remove Trump from
power, things could very ugly. It would also be very dangerous.

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Out gay attorney in a committed relationship; formerly married and father of three wonderful children; sometime activist and political/news junkie; survived coming out in mid-life and hope to share my experiences and reflections with others.
In the career/professional realm, I am affiliated with Caplan & Associates PC where I practice in the areas of real estate, estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Advanced Medical Directives, Financial Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Powers of Attorney); business law and commercial transactions; formation of corporations and limited liability companies and legal services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, including birth certificate amendment.

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